I have to put this out there since apparently people don’t pay attention and it’s frustrating as all hell. I had found a picture via Hawaii Military Pets, of a man in uniform skydiving with his pooch and proceeded to share it to my page. I think it’s a cool picture, and I’ll post it at the end of this.

The controversy that has suddenly sprung up on my page, was that of it being cruel, “f*cking stupid, among other extremely critical and non-logical things. So, lets clear the air shall we?

Military working dogs are a breed of their own. They are specifically trained to perform extreme tasks, compared to civilian training which can consist of simply “sit” and “stay”. This dogs are dual certified in explosive detection, or EDDs, and patrol. This means these dogs are trained to attack on command or to protect themselves or their handlers (Training War Dogs, 2012).

With EDDs, these pooches are trained to identify nine different explosive odors in different areas including barracks, theaters, warehouses, luggage, and vehicles. Once they have passed their certification, they are trained on patrol. Patrol for these pooches differs greatly between police dogs. Military dogs patrol training consists of obedience, an obedience course, out and guard, building searches, and scouting. Out and guard is technique to train the pooches on false runs, false runs into a bite, search and attack, escort, and to stand-off. They are trained to attack a suspect and stay in front of the suspect, watching them until the handler is able to detain the suspect. After this rigorous training, they are bonded to their handler, and then the work begins. That’s a heck of a job for a military dog.

Parachuting is not a new thing for MWD’s (Military Working Dogs, FYI). Around 1935, an issue of Popular Science Magazine ran an article about the training parachuting dogs.

In 1980, there was another issue ran about the Army training dogs for the rigors of parachute jumps (Ricks. T.E., 2012).

Another great example is that of a Dog named Cairo, and a dog who should be honored, since he helped take down Osama bin Laden. Cairo’s job was to find anyone trying to escape the raid, and sparked an interest in MWD’s.

Now onto the “skydiving” dogs.

Skydiving military dogs are trained for this, and are very well taken care of on their decent back to earth. These dogs are used on raids very often, just as Cairo was a part of. They have specially outfitted gear for the parachuting adventure, and are set in gear so as they will not be injured. Heck, there’s even dogs that jump straight out of helicopters with no gear at all!

Now, with that being said, why is it any different from Otis, the pug, a civilian pet, who has skydived over 60 times? I have no idea… I guess it’s cute for him, but not for the dogs that are hard-working to help our military members.

I am just frustrated and disgusted with how people feel that military pets are abused, treated poorly, or are euthanized after their tours of duty. It’s all false. Dogs have been bred as a working class. They were bred to hunt out critters in holes, seek out foxes, assist with guarding sheep, guard families, perform for police, and even for the purpose of warming our feet on chilly nights. So the fact is that these dogs are given the opportunity to do what they were bred to do, to work. They are given loving handlers who befriend them and protect them, they are given retirement ceremonies, and are adopted once their tours of duty are over. These dogs are commendable soldiers, and vital for our military over seas. I know I would adopt one of these loyal friends in a heartbeat if given the chance.

So. Now that we have that cleared up… Questions?

I’ve attached numerous articles, and I have also attached photos of these wonderful working dogs in action, and of their retirement.